Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), a unit of Reliance Industries, said that the absence of incumbent operators to provide it points of inter-connection (PoIs), which is the connection between their facilities, equipment and network, resulted in unusually high call failures while Jio was having its beta run. Now recently it is reported that the company is not being provided sufficient interconnection points for its Jio 4G services.
Advertisement
“We understand Reliance Jio presently has approximately 2 to 3 million customers using their network”. It said that the top operators have released only 1,400 ports so far, while 12,500 ports, based on industry practice, are required for 22 million subscribers, detauls which had been conveyed to the COAI member operators. The Cellular Operators Association of India, which includes Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, said Jio now has some 2 million to 3 million users.
The company said that under this offer, HP customers will get an opportunity to test Jio services on a LYF-powered JioFi device.
Arguing that inter-connection between service providers is the basis of a telecom network, Reliance Jio said it is necessary that requisite PoIs, which are required to maintain minimum quality of service to ensure calls are completed to all destinations, must be unconditionally facilitated inter se between all operators, subject alone to payment of relevant IUC charges.
In a statement on Wednesday, COAI Director General Rajan S. Mathews had said given their assessment of Jio subscriber base adequate interconnect capacity had already been provided to meet the usual demand.
A similar missive was also flagged to the Department of Telecom (DoT), which also specifically alleged that Reliance Jio has launched a full commercial service in the garb of test runs, while expressing concern over some consultation papers floated by the watchdog recently.
This is the latest development into the Reliance Jio COAI tussle that’s been going on for months now.
COAI has also submitted its decision on the inter-connect points to telecom regulator TRAI. It said denying inter-connection was a breach of the licence agreement.
The members of the body rejected the request from Reliance Jio for additional points of interconnection. He didn’t comment specifically on Jio’s letter.
Advertisement
On August 8, COAI sought meetings with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Minister of Communications to raise the issues against Reliance Jio and also complained against telecom regulator TRAI over alleged favouritism to new players.
